Dorian Grey Sitcom Announced by the CW

So… we may need to talk about the CW. Not in a bad way, necessarily; they’ve not done anything wrong. But they seem to be going slightly crazy. In that, they’re doing a Dorian Grey sitcom adaptation set in the modern day where Dorian is a woman looking to make amends for her past of selfishness.

“In this poignantly comedic spin on ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’ a woman who made a deal with the devil 50 years ago to remain young has spent the subsequent decades living selfishly and without consequences. As the downsides of eternal youth finally land on her, Dorian is ready to grow up and age gracefully, but, to do so, she’ll have to make amends for half a century of bad behaviour.”

To play devil’s advocate (HA!), the pitch is actually pretty solid. My Name is Earl hit a similar note, and that was great. But maybe that’s the problem: this has been done before. And very well, too. Still, it’s unfair to assume without seeing the finished product.

Marisa Coughlan is writing the show, and she’s also serving as executive producer alongside Len Goldstein. Coughlan is mainly known for her acting work, such as in Super Troopers 2 as Ursula. The whole thing is being backed by Warner Bros. TV, so there’ll be some serious muscle and finance behind it.

It’s probably unfair to worry so much about something that just started production. And Dorian Grey worked great in TV before: Penny Dreadful, in particular, nailed the immortal anti-hero. But this adaptation seems quick to stray from its gothic horror roots, and that, dear readers, is worrying. More news as we get it.